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Thursday, November 17, 2016

To Drink Or Not To Drink

It has been heavy on my heart to write this article. When I
first feel the need to write I should always go ahead and do it because it will
flow freely and need very little if any corrections or rewrites. Now, I have
had to go back over the scripture that was laid on my heart and meditate on it
and pray to tap back into that flow. Life gets so busy sometimes that I forget
what I need to do first and that is serve my God, my Father, my Creator. If
only I made enough money writing to stay home and write and do more for my
church and family. But I do not make writing my priority. That is no one’s
fault but my own.

This article is on drinking alcoholic beverages.

James 4:1-17 NKJV BLB

Where do wars and
fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure
that war in your members? 2. You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and
cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
3. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss (improperly), that you may
spend it on your pleasures. 4. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know
that friendship with the world is enmity (a reason for opposition) with God?
Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world make himself an enemy of
God. [This being because the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches,
advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir
desire seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ. *Strong’s
Greek Lexicon, www.blueletterbible.org.]
5. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in
us yearns jealously”? 6. But He gives more grace, Therefore he says: “ God
resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 7. Therefore submit to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8. Draw near to God and he will
draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you
double-minded. 9. Lament and mourn and weep? Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to gloom. 10. Humble yourselves (lower one’s soul, bring
down one’s pride; have a modest opinion of one’s self; behave in an unassuming
manner; devoid of all haughtiness) in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift
you up. “Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother
and judges his brother, speaks evil of the laws and judges the law. But if you
judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12. There is one
Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another? 13.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such city,
spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14. Whereas you do not
know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that
appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15. Instead you ought to say,
“if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16. But now you boast
(to glory on account of a thing) in your arrogance. All such boasting
(rejoicing) is evil. 17. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do
it, to him it is sin.

My relationship with alcohol has been rocky to say the
least. I have drunk to find out why it was so good to others, because it was
acceptable to my dad, to rebel against my dad, to deal with grief, because I
was having muscle spasms and pain, to open my sinuses, to help me sleep,
because everyone else was, to calm my nerves, because I was angry and
depressed, and so the booze would run out quickly and I could secretly pour it
out. I never cared much for partying. I hated clubbing and going to a bar but I
enjoyed drinking while sitting around a fire talking to someone who had some
sense, drinking in a warm bath to relax, and drinking while I was cooking to
relax so I could eat. However, the ideal thing would have been to deal with the
things and people that were causing me the stress and pain instead of using
alcohol to keep trudging on.

I stopped drinking for many reasons almost 4 ½ years ago. I
have drunk a few times since June 11, 2012. I have no interest in drinking
thank God, and to me it is not an option because I choose to remain sober
minded and to keep my mind on God and His Word and promises, and because I have
been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia and fibromyalgia.
Also, alcoholism runs in both sides of my family and I do not ever want to
become dependent on alcohol. Some of the worst guilt I have ever experienced was
when my children saw me drinking because I didn’t want to influence them to drink.
Alcoholism runs in both sides of their family too.

Alcoholism like many other habits derive from wrong thinking
patterns and it is developed and encouraged one thought and one action at a
time. A decision leads to a decision which leads to a decision until that
thinking pattern is locked in and becomes habit. We are predictable creatures
and repeat what we think works for us not seeing the available alternatives or
other choices that we have. I know people who will do without basic needs like
food and shelter to drink and smoke. I know people who will work and drink and
that’s it. They never go anywhere else or do anything else. Their ambition in
life is to work for someone else and drink. Work to drink. Drink to work.

The only way they will ever change their thinking patterns
will be to give their heart and soul to God or something that they think is
bigger than them. Often it takes a life changing event to alter someone’s
thinking patterns, an infomercial in the movie of their life so they are paused
and see the light. I do not know if you have ever read a 12- step program but
they are faith based.

I was not addicted to alcohol but I was addicted to nicotine
and the habit of smoking. I tried patches, medication, chewing gum, and even
making a promise to God because I thought that I would be strong enough not to
break my promise because I loved Him too much to break my promise. WRONG! Then
I had to deal with the guilt. I humbled myself to God and asked him to take the
desire to smoke away from me and he did. I didn’t have any withdraw symptoms
whereas when I tried to quit on my own my family would ask me to smoke because
I became so irritable. I have not smoked since June 11, 2011 except for one
time I got angry and discouraged and I took 2 draws off a cigarette. It was so
nasty and I disgusted myself for doing it.

Let’s look in the Holy Bible at some facts about drinking. I
have not found anywhere in the Word of God
that it is a sin to drink wine or strong drink but I have found
guidelines for drinking. In Proverbs we read that it is not for king’s or
princes to drink wine or strong drink because they may forget the law and
pervert the judgement of all of the afflicted.

Proverbs 31:4-7 NKJV
BLB

4. it is not for
kings, O Lemuel, It is not for king’s to drink wine, Nor for princes
intoxicating drink; 5. Lest they drink and forget the law, And pervert the
justice of all the afflicted. 6. Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And
wine to those who are bitter of heart. 7. Let him drink and forget his poverty,
And remember his misery no more.

We read in 1 Corinthians who will not inherit the kingdom of
God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9. Do you not know that
the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.
Neither fornicators (a male who prostitutes, a man who indulges in unlawful
intercourse), nor idolaters (a worshipper of false gods; a covetous man as a
worshipper of mammon), nor adulterers (an adulterer; metaphorically one who is
faithless toward God), nor homosexuals, nor sodomites (one who lies with a male
as with a female), 10. Nor thieves, nor covetous (one eager to have more,
especially what belongs to others), nor drunkards (drunken, intoxicated), nor
revilers (a railer), nor extortioners (an extortioner, a robber) will inherit the
kingdom of God. 11. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you
were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by
the Spirit of our God.

Have faith in God and know that His Word is truth. Trust in
His promises. Do not take something that does not belong to you. Do not put
anything or anyone before God. Do not drink in excess so as not to cloud your judgement or become intoxicated.
Do not use insolent or reproachful language toward someone. The list goes on.
But all is not lost.

God equips us so that we can live in peace and harmony with
him. We are made righteous through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Righteousness is our God given ability to stand before God without any
consciousness of sin or guilt. Once we are forgiven of something people or the
devil may try to remind us to bring us down or to try to suck us back into that
old way but God will never remind us because we are washed. Our sins are as far
as the east is from the west. They are no more. They are forgotten. God only
sees his son’s blood and a heart that loves him.

Unless you humble yourself to God and go to him in the name
of Jesus, aware of the sacrifice that he made so you can be forgiven of your
sins, you are not worthy to enter into heaven. The blood of Jesus makes us
worthy. We can never do enough to be worthy. Only Jesus makes us worthy. We
have to trust God’s word and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and what he
did for us to be made righteous.

First we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Romans 10:9-11

That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed.

Everything after that is us learning how to be better
people, learning how to live an acceptable and pleasing life unto God, learning
how to change our thought patterns and put on the mind of Christ, learning how
to serve God, and help others in our family in Christ and lead others to
Christ. God’s holy Word gives us examples and directions to living better from
Genesis to Revelation.

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to shew thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the
word of truth.

I am going to share one last passage of scripture with you
before I close. If you have given your heart to God and accepted Jesus as your
Lord and Savior and need instruction or prayer you can contact me at lisa.clewis.lc@gmail.com.

Ephesians 5:15-20

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as
wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not
unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with
wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your
heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You Are Forgiven

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son , that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17